Family Game Night
by KeeponReadin
Summary: What happens when all the Olympians and their favorite demigod kids get together for some good ol' family bonding? Dysfunction, of course! Watch your favorite gods and demigods compete against each other in the first ever Camp Half-Blood Annual Game Festival!
1. Chapter 1

**It's KeeponReadin' here with another AMAZING story! Are you excited? I know I am!**

**1.) Disclaimer: I don't own PJatO. All products/movies/other belong to their respective owners and creators, not me!  
**

**2.) For those who have already read this chapter: read it again I edited some things that will change the events in chapter 2.**

**3.) Now that my ridiculously long disclaimer is done... READ!**

**Family Game Night:**

**Chapter 1:**

"HERA!" Zeus clanged his lightning bolt against the floor of the throne room in rage. The beautiful, white, freshly-polished stone floor shattered underneath its power and was replaced by a small crater. Zeus knew at that moment that somewhere in Camp Half-Blood Annabeth Chase had just cringed. But Zeus didn't care much for the feelings of demigods (even if they were the daughter of his favorite child), especially not at the present when he had _much _more important matters to deal with. Such pressing matters as: his boredom! Can you believe it? The King of the Gods _bored? _Completely preposterous if you asked him! That's why he'd devised a plan that would solve his boredom and even get a little bonding time with his demigod children. _And some would dare think I'm heartless!_

About that time a white light flooded the room and out of the light strode his beautiful (and often times moody) wife, Hera. "Whatever is the matter _now, _Zeus?" Unfortunately for him, Hera was feeling exceptionally moody on this fine Monday morning, "This had better be good or so help me-,"

"Please, have you no faith? I, Zeus King of the Gods, have had the single greatest idea since, as the mortals say "sliced bread"."

"Alright let's hear it then Mr. High And Mighty."

"Of course, Mrs. Grumpy Pants. In honor of our recent defeat of Gaea and her monstrous army we are going to host the first ever Camp Half-Blood Annual Family Game Festival!" At that moment Zeus stood and held both of his hands over his head while sunlight shone in from a skylight in the dome shaped roof of the Grand Throne Room of Olympus. He was sure that somewhere someone had just gone blind from the shear magnificence of his idea. He beamed (in Hera's opinion) like an idiot and waited for her response, "So? What do you think?"

Hera sighed heavily, she knew all-too-well that she _could not _talk her stubborn, hot-headed husband out of this one, "I'll go rally up the Olympians…."

"Aw, I knew you'd love it! Do me a favor and round up Athena, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hades, Aphrodite, Demeter, Ares, Apollo, and Artemis. Tell them that they can each bring one of their children. Artemis can bring a Huntress of her choice. You and I will be the judges."

Hera rolled her eyes in a way that only the goddess of marriage could, "Is that all? Maybe we should just invite the rest of Manhattan while we're at it?"

He gave her a warning glance, "Don't tempt me, dear." And with that the goddess disappeared in a wave of light that would've blinded all eyes but those of gods, and a faint but very distinct smell of cow manure lingered in the air.

* * *

"… And that Percy is the Pythagorean Theorem," Annabeth said as she completed her extremely elaborate yet dyslexia friendly math lesson that explained the Pythagorean Theorem to even the dumbest of demigods. She had taught the subject expertly despite the random fit of shuddering she had half way through the lesson. She could've sworn that she had heard the sound of priceless marble crumbling.

"Oh gods Annabeth, no more math; I swear I'll be a good boy from now on! I'll-I'll read _The Hunger Games_… or at least the summary… actually could you just paraphrase it really quick? No, wait, better idea! I'll take you to the movie!" Percy cried out in agony as he covered his ears and shook his head violently. Dumping Annabeth's copy of _Mockingjay_ in the Lake was one of the _worst _ideas he had ever had. She had just finished _Catching Fire_ the day before and had been _completely _ignoring Percy while she was reading those books so he felt that he needed to take "necessary" action against the evil girlfriend stealing menace.

She gave him a devious smirk that could rival Athena's as she closed the math book and turned off the Smart Board projector in Cabin Six. She (as always) had gotten exactly what she'd wanted. "Next Tuesday sound good? While we're out we can stop at a book store and you can buy me a new copy of _Mockingjay_," she walked over to a bunk and pulled a pencil out from under the pillow and marked the date on a calendar that hung on the wall next to the Smart Board. The calendar had a different famous architectural structure for each month; this month's was the Parthenon. Percy knew this without even looking at the calendar because whenever he would bring up anything even remotely related to Architecture she would go on and on about the Parthenon. Last month she talked for almost a whole hour about the Statue of Liberty. After listening to all her lectures on it he had decided to take her to it as a surprise. It was a win-win situation for Percy because: 1. It made Annabeth _super_ happy and Annabeth super happy = Percy super _duper _happy (he doesn't need any more math than that). 2. He got non-Camp food (the food there is really good but sometimes you just need a regular fat filled cheeseburger).

He sighed, "It's a date beautiful, on one condition."

"I'm listening," she lifted her eyebrow quizzically.

"You can't just read your book all the time. I get all lonely and stuff," Percy prayed to every god he knew that his puppy-dog eyes would work on her.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh alright, jeez Seaweed Brain when did you get all emotional?"

"Well, when I- … do you feel that?" Suddenly Percy's pupils dilated and he spurted out in a mechanical sounding voice, "Dalmatians are born without spots, bats always turn left when exiting a cave, the pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing, men's shirts have the buttons on the right while women's shirts have them on the left, chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying, roosters cannot grow if they cannot extend their necks, owls are the only birds to drop their upper eyelids to blink-,"

Annabeth practically tackled Percy and clamped a hand over his mouth while she shielded her eyes from intense silver light that made the cabin light up like a Christmas tree. Athena emerged from the light laughing hysterically with an unhappy Poseidon on her heels. The god of the sea folded his arms and shot Athena a look of disgust. Suddenly he took on an amused smirk, "That's how you want to play it, eh?" He extended his left hand and snapped.

Annabeth felt a strange tingling beginning at her feet. She looked down to see green scales crawling up her legs. Her shoes burst and instead of looking at toes she was looking at one big fin. Her eyes widened and she fell back causing herself to lose her grip on Percy's mouth, "-Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die-,"

"POSEIDON, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY DAUGHTER?"

"ATHENA, MAKE MY BOY DUMB AGAIN OR YOU DAUGHTER'S THE NEW _LITTLE MERMAID_!"

Annabeth's legs merged into one huge fin and she gasped for air. Percy twitched on the ground while sputtering out random facts; he was making a sort of odd snow angel like thing in the blueprints on the wooden cabin floor. All the while Poseidon and Athena yelled at each other at the top of their lungs. Poseidon cursed like a sailor and Athena made books fly off the shelves in anger. A loud _slam _was heard as Malcolm emerged from Annabeth's office, "Hey, Annabeth, I found that book you were looking- oh gods! What the Hades-,"

"NOT NOW!" Athena and Poseidon both whipped around and yelled at Malcolm in unison.

"-When hippos are upset their sweat turns red-,"

"A-air…"

"-It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million dollars to make a movie about it-,"

"H-help me… please… can't… b-breathe…"

Poseidon and Athena fixed each other with evil glares that made Medusa the least of your worries as far as eyes were concerned. Both of them snapped their fingers at the same time without losing their godly Staring Contest. Percy blinked a couple of times and stared blankly up at the ceiling, "Uh… where's the pancakes, mom?"

Annabeth sucked in air and lay on her side panting while her legs changed back to normal. Malcolm stared wide-eyed at them all, "Talk about dysfunctional family…"

Annabeth shook her head at him and said breathlessly, "You have no idea…"

Percy tilted his head back a little to see the upside down forms of his father and Athena. He smiled and pointed at them, "Ha, you guys look funny when you're on the roof. You must be magic. Hey, magic lady, how'd you get up there?"

"Athena, what's wrong with him?" Poseidon snarled through gritted teeth.

"You said make him dumb."

"I meant his normal dumb, not brainless!"

"If you insist, Barnacle Breath," Athena smirked superiorly and snapped her fingers.

Percy sat bolt upright and blinked a couple of times, "Hey, Annabeth I just had the craziest dream- wait Dad and Athena are here… it wasn't a dream was it?"

"Nope," Annabeth shook her head and sat upright, leaning her back against the bottom of the nearest bunk.

"Shi-," Percy began but Annabeth cut him off sending him a dangerous glance, "-itake mushrooms are delicious!"

Annabeth sighed and shook her head at Percy sending him a quick glance that said that-was-the-best-cover-up-you-could-think-of? He shrugged and they turned their attention back to their parents who were still locked in their godly Staring Contest. Annabeth, being the braver of the two at the time, cleared her throat, "Um… Lord Poseidon, Mother, what did you come to speak to us about?"

Not even turning to look at Annabeth Athena stated in her usual matter-of-fact voice, "Zeus has requested that all the Olympians choose one demigod child to participate with them in some sort of "game festival"."

Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "So you want me and Percy to be your "participants" in these games?"

"Yes, I suppose so. Seeing as your brother over there is in a state of shock and _Perseus _is Poseidon's only demigod child it would seem that you two are the most logical choices. That and Aphrodite would have our heads if we didn't pick the both of you. It's not that I'm afraid of Aphrodite, I'm afraid of her non-stop jabbering. The goddess _will not _shut up about you two."

Percy and Annabeth turned a shade of crimson the second they were mentioned along with Aphrodite. That woman had visited them several times regarding "Percabeth" (a concept Percy still didn't understand despite Aphrodite's lectures). Let's just say Percy and Annabeth _did not _enjoy the monthly meetings of the "Percabeth Fan Club". Inspired and made up of Aphrodite and maybe a daughter or two of hers… heck, it was probably the whole cabin minus Piper.

This time Percy decided to break the awkward silence, "So when is this game festival thing?"

"Next week, Little Brother said we've got a week to prepare or something like that. He also said that he and Hera would be providing the list of games once they worked it out. I guess they must be some sort of Olympic type games that we'd have to prepare for physically. Well not us because we're gods," Poseidon mimicked Athena's matter-of-fact tone and she looked impressed.

"Wow, Fish Face, I didn't know you were capable of using logic."

"'Wow, Fish Face, I didn't know you were capable of using logic,'" Poseidon raised his voice to make it sound feminine. Athena rolled her eyes and Poseidon rolled his sea green ones while fighting to keep the same stern expression she had.

Annabeth nodded her head in understanding, "So _that's _where Percy gets it from!"

"You mean _Perseus _acts like Coral for Brains? How do you put up with him?"

"Hey, give me some credit, I'm not _that _annoying!"

"Son, what's that supposed to mean?" Poseidon fixed Percy with a stern glare.

"Uh… nothing Dad you're the greatest!"

Poseidon nodded his head in satisfaction, "That's what I thought. C'mon niece let's head back to the big O, your Dear Old Daddy is waiting for us." Lightning flashed and thunder boomed overhead. Poseidon cupped his hands over his mouth, leaned his head out of the nearest window and yelled up at the sky, "KEEP YOUR CHITON ON, WE'RE COMING!"

Athena put her hands on her hips and gave Poseidon the don't-you-be-messing-with-my-daddy glare, "You know Father has blood-pressure problems, he's been really stressed out lately."

"You know why? The Old Man-," more lightning and thunder, "-needs to learn how to have fun!"

"I thought he was your younger brother-," Percy started.

Poseidon waved a hand distractedly at him, "Not now, Percy."

"Poseidon, this has taken way too long. We need to leave now before Father gets any angrier." She gestured towards the thunder clouds looming overhead.

"Fine," Poseidon huffed and walked over to Percy. "Boy, you're getting way too big! Stop growing," he smiled proudly at Percy and engulfed him in what was probably literally a bone-crushing hug.

"D-Dad… can't… b-breathe…"

"Sorry son! Keep forgetting you don't have the curse of Achilles anymore!"

"I-It's fine Dad," Percy stuttered a little bit as he sucked in the air he had been momentarily deprived of.

Athena approached Annabeth and gave her a much gentler motherly-hug, "Daughter, it seems I'm often too busy to notice how intelligent and big your getting! When I say big I of course meant height; I mean look at you! You're almost my height… well, not in my godly form of course." Annabeth smiled at the _extremely _rare sight of her mother gushing over her like normal moms do. Athena whispered in her ear so that only she could hear it, "I'm proud of you, Annabeth. _Very _proud."

Annabeth beamed from ear-to-ear as Poseidon approached her. He clapped a hand on her shoulder, "You know, Annabeth, you might not be so bad for my son after all."

"Uh… thanks?"

"No problem! I mean you certainly must have good taste if you're reading _The Hunger Games Series! _Don't breathe a word of this to your mom, but… I read all three."

Annabeth's eyebrows rose, "Really?"

"Yes, reading is my guilty pleasure... well, reading and tuna salad."

She rolled her eyes at him, "I don't think Percy's ever read a book in his life."

Poseidon cracked a smile, "Why don't we try and fix that, eh?"

"I've been told that great minds think alike."

"Ha! Don't let your mom hear that we've teamed up!Next thing you know she'll have Percy doing who knows what to us!"

Oddly enough, Annabeth and Poseidon had actually hit it off. Percy and Athena on the other hand… not so much. "… If you harm one hair on her golden little head you'll wake up in Tartarus tomorrow morning!"

"Athena, ma'am, I _promise _that I won't hurt Annabeth! Mr. Chase already gave me this talk, ma'am. If I ever do anything to Annabeth whether it is on purpose or an accident you can make me spontaneously combust or make my brain flip inside out or something," Percy spoke in a calm, level, and dead-serious tone.

Her cold gray eyes scanned him for a minute. They looked like they were dissecting him and that Athena could see into his very soul. "One slip up _Perseus, _and you're a goner. You understand me?"

"Yes ma'am!" Percy, being the big goober he was, even saluted her. She rolled her eyes good-naturedly and left in a silvery explosion with Poseidon right behind her.

Annabeth looked around at the ransacked cabin, her shell-shocked brother, and shaking boyfriend; she nodded a little and said, "That definitely went better than the last time."

"Yeah, she turned me into a book about identifying owl droppings last time."

Then Annabeth looked over at Malcolm, "You think he's going to be okay?"

"Probably not," he wagered the odds a little before he'd responded.

"You think we should take him to Chiron?"

"Nah," Percy considered it for a little bit before dismissing it.

"Sounds good to me," and with that Annabeth laced her fingers with Percy's as they flung the door to Cabin Six open and marched out leaving a messy cabin and a permanently scarred Malcolm behind.

**What did you think? Don't worry, this chapter was just setting up for the games that will ensue in the next chapter! Please review! I enjoy any and all feedback whether it be negative or positive! Constructive criticism is always very helpful and is necessary for me to grow and expand as a writer! A humongormouslygiant THANK YOU goes out to everyone who reads, reviews, and all that other good stuff!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I, KeeponReadin, hath made her triumphant return from her most triumphant camping trip of triumph!**

**1.) Stop! Disclaimer time: I don't own PJatO, nor do I own any of the games/products/other in this chapter. They all belong to their creators.**

**2.) Hey, you with the hair! Yeah I'm talking to you Mr. Mammal... READ!**

**Chapter 2:**

"Hey Demeter, you wouldn't happen to have any matches would you?" Hermes sat across from Demeter at the long gold Dining Table of Olympus eating the Fried Chicken of Olympus with the Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes of Olympus, covered in the Gravy of Olympus.

"Hermes, in case your small brain hadn't already registered it: agriculture and fire don't mix well," Demeter sneered at the god as he fumbled with some sort of mechanism of fiendish torture.

"For Google's sake you don't have to be so snappy! Can you pass me the Rolls of Olympus?"

"Sure," Demeter wrestled the Rolls of Olympus from Apollo, who was already on his ninth roll.

"Demeter lay off,

I love Rolls of Olympus,

Tell Hermes their mine." Artemis scoffed at Apollo's constant use of haikus and quickly snatched the Rolls of Olympus from him and handed them to Hermes.

Zeus rolled his eyes at his children's constant bickering. He raised his godly Hands of Olympus and silenced the crowd of arguing gods and goddesses. "I have an announcement concerning all of you," he began in his booming voice that sounded much like the thunder that erupted from the sky during a storm. "As you all may know, we will be hosting the very first Camp Half-Blood Annual Family Game Festival every night next week starting at nine o'clock. Today is… Hera what day is it? Wednesday, already? Wow… anyway, during the last two days Hera and I have composed the games that we will be participating in. Also, we made a list of the games and how they are played so that you all may prepare yourself and your children for the games. Hera, pass them out would you?"

Hera gave Zeus an angry look that said I-do-all-the-work-around-here-the-least-you-can-do-is-pass-out-the-papers, "Honey, I believe you are far more qualified to pass out papers than I am."

"Fine," Zeus grumbled and stumbled around trying to find the papers. "Hera, honey, where'd you put the darn things?"

"I didn't touch them."

"Neither did I!"

Hera sighed and got up from the table to help Zeus search in every drawer, desk, and table in Olympus.

Once they had both left the room all eyes turned on Hermes. He smirked, "What? Every time something goes missing around here you guys blame it on me! Just because I'm the god of thieves doesn't mean I-,"

Athena rolled her eyes and held up the papers, "Hermes, they were sticking out of your pocket."

Poseidon leaned over and snatched the papers from her hands, "Let's see here: 'Monday- _Pomegranates to Pomegranates, _Tuesday- _Mythphrase, _Wednesday- _Polis, _Thursday- Demigod Tournament,and Friday- Awards Ceremony'."

Everyone looked as confused as Poseidon felt. "What kind of games are these?" Demeter asked in outrage.

"Oh, dudes I get it! Their like Ancient Greek spinoffs of these games mortals play called "board games"!" Apollo shouted excitedly.

"Exactly," Artemis began looking questioningly at Apollo, "how would you know?"

"We played them at this sick mortal party I went to- I mean uh… not party uh… um it was a… a Social Gathering? Yeah! That's what it was! Definitely not a-a party or anything…. Just don't tell Dad okay?"

"Tell me what, son?" Zeus waltzed into the Dining Room and took the papers from Poseidon.

"That he was… taking cooking lessons! Isn't that right Apollo?" Hermes gave Apollo the I-just-saved-your-butt-so-I-better-not-hear-any-haikus-for-a-month glare. Apollo nodded vigorously at Hermes and then at Zeus.

"Yes, well I suppose I had to have an odd child… on to business!" All the Olympians sniggered at Apollo as he ducked under the table and lay on his side in feeble position. "The games you have all just read are as my "brilliant" son has already guessed are Ancient Greek spinoff versions of the popular mortal games: _Apples to Apples, Catchphrase, _and_ Monopoly. _You'll figure out what the Demigod Tournament is once we get to it. For some of these games you will be divided into teams." All the gods and goddesses brightened at this and began to plan out who they would team up with. "These teams have already been pre-decided." A chorus of "aw man" and "crap" echoed throughout the crowd of immortals. "All of you submitted your chosen demigods yesterday so I will read off the participants: 'Apollo- Will Solace, Aphrodite- Piper McLean, Hermes- Connor and Travis Stoll, Poseidon- Percy Jackson, Athena- Annabeth Chase, Hades- Nico di Angelo, Demeter- Katie Gardner, Hephaestus- Leo Valdez, Ares- Clarisse La Rue, and Artemis- Lt. Thalia Grace'. Hera, Hestia, the minor gods, and I will not be participating in these games. Instead we will judge and keep track of the rest of your progress. I will be leaving Dionysus and Chiron in charge of Camp Half-Blood and its safety while we play our games… not to mention I do love tormenting Dionysus. Since there are so many of you we will split into teams and will play at three separate tables for individual games. By the way, Hermes, I know that you chose Travis Stoll as your participant but I knew that his fiendish twin brother would sneak in and join the games anyway so I took the liberty of adding him in so he doesn't have to as the mortals say, "gate crash".

"The teams are: 'Team 1- Poseidon, Hephaestus, Hades, Percy Jackson, Leo Valdez, Stoll One, and Nico di Angelo.

Team 2- Athena, Hermes, Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, Katie Gardner, Stoll Two, and Piper McLean.

Team 3- Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares, Demeter, Will Solace, and Clarisse La Rue'.

Before any of the gods and goddesses could complain Zeus spoke in his thunder-clap of a voice, "More details will be provided the night of the games. Now you may go review rules and strategies with your team members. Meeting adjourned!" All the Olympians scrambled, knocking over tables and flinging the beloved Rolls of Olympus off of Olympus and down to New York where they would land on an unlucky mortal's head.

Apollo dove, but reached the ledge too late. He banged his godly hands on the swirled golden-white floors like a toddler having a temper tantrum (Annabeth spit out Coke all over Malcolm). Finally he sat up and made a face that mirrored that of a five year old who'd just dropped their ice cream on the sidewalk. Hermes patted him on the head, "Don't worry buddy, D's probably got some godly rolls holed up somewhere in Camp Half-Blood."

"No Hermes, you don't understand. All they've got are nasty, fat-free Healthy Rolls of Camp Half-Blood!" Hermes rolled his godly eyes at Apollo's act of godly childishness. Ares swaggered up to the two of them and practically flung Apollo over his back. He gave him a hard, brotherly slap on the butt for good measure and stuck his thumbs up to Zeus signaling that everyone was ready to go raise Tartarus at Camp Half-Blood.

* * *

"…And then the cow said, 'I really love mayonnaise!'" Everyone burst into fits of laughter as Leo and the Stolls stood on top of their respective cabin's tables during dinner and told corny jokes. Leo had almost fallen off once or twice and the Stolls were locked in a shoving match trying to shove each other off the table. The Hermes cabin threw rocks at their goofy half-brothers and cheered one or the other on. Mr. D was completely red-faced in anger and Chiron looked slightly amused.

"THAT'S IT! GET DOWN FROM THERE! LIAM, COLE, AND TANNER YOU'RE ALL IN HUGE TROUBLE!" Mr. D stomped up to them and grape vines grew out of the tables, grabbed the Stolls and Leo by the ankles, and drug them out of the Mess Hall. He looked like he would explode at any minute when a light brighter than the sun started to form in the middle of the Mess Hall and spread to the edges causing all the demigods to cower under their respective tables. Even Mr. D had to dive under the Hermes table for protection while Chiron ducked under his table. Once the light faded everyone resumed normal position as they took in the sight of all _twelve _Olympians standing, in all their glory, in the middle of the Mess Hall.

"Glory" may not have been the appropriate term for the sight in front of them. Poseidon was locked in a match of Rock Paper Scissors to the death with Athena while Demeter refereed. Aphrodite was jabbering animatedly in Artemis's ear about a mixture of what "famous" mortal couples were up to and what kinds of makeup would suit Artemis. The goddess of the Hunt looked like suicide had just become a viable option for her to escape Aphrodite's torturous ways. Meanwhile Ares had Apollo slung over his shoulder while the god of the sun flailed uselessly on the god of war's hulking back. Hermes was trying in vain to calm the hysterical god down but nothing really seemed to work until Zeus spun around at a speed only possible in movies and gave all of them the try-to-look-respectable-in-front-of-your-kids-for-once death glare. Aphrodite shut up and Artemis looked relieved while Poseidon and Athena stared at each other grumpily. Ares finally took the hint and dropped a grumbling Apollo on the floor with a _thump. _

Finally satisfied Zeus turned around, stepped forward, cleared his throat, and began, "Good evening half-bloods. We, the Olympians, have gathered here today to- is that pizza?" Chiron nodded tentatively and Zeus picked up a piece and shoved it in his godly pie-hole. "Anway," he began with his mouth full of pizza, "Hera where was I? Oh yeah never mind. We're here to announce that we will be hosting the first ever Camp Half-Blood Annual Family Game Festival in honor of the demigods, gods, and goddesses that helped defeat Gaea and her forces of evil!" This received lots of (mostly fake) cheering. The bad part about having godly family is that no matter how hard they try to be sincere and normal they still come across as messed up and intimidating. This is especially true if you're Zeus. "Now, down to business: We have actually come to inform you of the demigods that will be participating and what teams they will be on so that they can begin to prepare for the games with their teams."

Zeus spoke for at least an hour to the not-so-attentive crowd of dyslexic ADHD teenagers who were trying their best to hold their bursting ADHD-ness in for one godly lecture. This, however, was very hard for some demigods. Especially for Leo and the Stolls since they were rooted to the ground outside the entrance to the Mess Hall and could only just barely hear what was going on. Finally, once the demigods were sorted into their teams everyone dispersed. Team 1 headed to the ocean, Team 2 headed for the Sword Fighting Arena, and Team 3 hung out in the Mess Hall.

* * *

"…But, like I was saying: As long as we beat Athena I really don't care who wins," Poseidon had just finished his extremely short and not-so-motivational motivational speech to the crowd of demigods and two not very pleased gods sitting in the sand in front of him. Poseidon had erected a throne in the sand that looked like it might've taken years just to engineer just one of the legs. He lay sideways in it so that his feet hung out leisurely over the other side. His godly elbow rested on the left arm of the chair while he held his chin up on his knuckles.

He scanned his teammate's faces until his son spoke up, "Uh, yeah Dad, aren't we supposed to be learning how to play these games? Do you even have the list and instructions?"

"Son, it shames me to know that you would think me so unprep- yeah I forgot the list…" Poseidon trailed off looking at Hades and Hephaestus expectantly.

Hades shook his head, "Dear Brother, it _shames _me to see how forgetful and irresponsible you are." Hades handed Poseidon the list and he read over it.

He looked thoughtful for a minute as he scanned the games. He smiled maybe a little too cheerfully and began devising their game plan, "Okay guys, this is how we're going to do it…"

* * *

Athena had already worn a rut-like path in the ground in front of them that she had been pacing on for the last twenty minutes. She mumbled a little and once she had thrown a rock clear to the Long Island Sound. Annabeth stared at her mother's troubled state of mind. She wanted to help. "Mother-,"

"Annabeth honey-,"

"Mom, this is important, we need-,"

"Yes, yes I'm sure-,"

"Mo-,"

Athena spun around mid-stride and turned her glacial, challenging gray gaze on Annabeth. "Annabeth, _what _in the name of Zeus is it?"

Annabeth stood and locked eyes with her mother, unflinching. "Mother, we're losing time. The more time we waste watching you pace and hurl rocks into the sea is more time Seaweed Brain and Poseidon have as an advantage. If we want to beat the Nautical Nuisances we'll have to get the upper hand while we can." Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest triumphantly and continued to speak sense to her obviously flustered mother, "_Now, _let's get that game list out and build a strategy."

Athena was thoroughly impressed with her daughter's guts and knowledge. In fact, Annabeth had even been able to use her two favorite words in one sentence: build and strategy. She had even been able to give Squid Skin's team a proper name. The Nautical Nuisances. Why, if all her daughters were like that… she'd have a run for her money. She laughed good-naturedly, "Keep that up, daughter, and they'll have to replace me!" Annabeth smiled at her mother as their team looked on at them in awe.

Thalia looked from Annabeth to Athena and repeated the process a couple of times before she spoke up, "Not to interrupt the whole Mommy-Daughter moment we're having here but we need to get to work if we're ever going to beat Team PP. Percy and Poseidon won't mess around so we won't either." Thalia stood and puffed herself out in such a way that said I'm-a-freaking-Lieutenant-mess-with-me-and-you-die-a-painful-death. Thalia's words were met with cheers and Athena pulled out the list that would determine whether they as a team won or lost. That paper was the key to their soon-to-be amazingly epic game plan that would surely blow everyone's minds.

Athena quickly located Monday's game and instructions and read it aloud to her team, "'_Pomegranates to Pomegranates: _Based on the popular mortal game _Apples to Apples _this game has been modified to suit our Greek customs. Each player will be dealt seven red pomegranate cards. These cards will have names of people, places, objects, etc. After the cards are dealt a judge will be picked for the round; then the designated judge will flip over a green pomegranate card and lay it in the center of the table. Green pomegranate cards have words on them that are descriptive such as, "adorable". The player will look at the red cards in their hands and determine what the judge will pick to fit the description of the green card. Once the player has decided, they lay down their card and wait for everyone else to play their cards face down on the table. Once the judge has all the cards he/she will read them aloud and choose the one he/she thinks best suits the green card. The player who played the card that the judge chose gets to keep the green card. The object of the game is to receive five green pomegranate cards'."

Stoll Two, or Connor, looked around at everyone and nodded. "Sounds simple enough," he leaned back a little and put his arms around Piper and Katie. "Isn't that right, ladies?" He winked at them and they both pushed him off at the same time. Connor rolled forward and finally stopped, his arms and legs were bent in awkward positions as he pulled himself up off the dirt. Hermes laughed at his hopelessly crazy son.

"Boy, you need to take lessons from your brother, Aphrodite's been raving about something called "Tratie" for at least a week," Hermes slapped Connor on the back and they both grinned devilishly at each other. Meanwhile Katie had hid behind Piper in order to stifle her embarrassment.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Katie, I feel you, Aphrodite's been trying to get Percy and I together since we were thirteen. Just wait until you and Travis have a fan club that meets every month."

**How was that for a chapter? Was it good? Did you like it? Huh? What's that? I can't hear you from here so: leave a review! Thank you thank you thank you to all the beautiful people who read, review, favorited, alerted, and all that other good stuff (I say that to make sure that I don't leave anything out, especially since I'm writing this at 2:35 in the morning)! By the way, hang in there we're getting to the games! A lot more set up stuff than I'd originally anticipated.**


End file.
